Events Describing the Efficacy of Lifeguards in Preventing Drowning Deaths

Evidence suggests that lifeguard services benefit public safety by saving lives, lowering drowning rates, and preventing injuries in aquatic recreational environments. Lifeguards also indirectly provide economic and social benefits. They add to the savings in emergency medical care and long-term hospital treatment involving cases of near-drowning (Hassell 1997) and alleviate emotional trauma and social costs to family and friends.

Communities sometimes choose to discontinue lifeguards as a cost-saving measure. We provide a series of case studies to demonstrate the impact of lifeguards on drowning. A few caveats are worth noting when considering these case studies. First, geography, environmental conditions, demographics, and other local conditions may be factors in drownings. Also, national data are not available to assess the number of drownings that occur on beaches without lifeguards because no centralized reporting system exists. Nonetheless, case studies help illustrate the potential effects of lifeguards on public safety.

In 1989 the Nassau County Commission decided to eliminate lifeguards on American Beach in order to save county expenses. Less than a year later on Memorial Day, 1990, five persons drowned and 20 others nearly drowned when rough ocean conditions and strong winds caused rip currents to form immediately offshore, making this one of the worst drowning episodes in Florida’s history. Shortly after this tragedy, local officials reestablished lifeguarding services. In the eight years since, no one has drowned.

Case 2: Keawaula Beach, Hawaii

Keawaula Beach at Kaena Point State Park is located at the westernmost point on the island of Oahu. The beach is exposed to high surf; a strong shore break; and a strong, often severe, current. The remote, pristine site attracts many surfers, sunbathers, swimmers, and waders. The combination of dangerous physical features and heavy use by patrons increases the risk for water-related injury and death. From 1985 to 1991, two drownings and 40 near-drownings occurred at Keawaula Beach. Although the State of Hawaii does not provide lifeguards, it elected to contract with the City and County of Honolulu to place lifeguards at Keawaula Beach beginning in January, 1992. Since then, no drownings have occurred at this beach.

Ocean Beach covers more than five miles of the Pacific shore in the City and County of San Francisco. Rip currents are common in the water off this beach. The beach is administered by the U.S. National Park Service and is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA). Until the early 1990s, GGNRA provided lifeguards at several beaches in the region, including Stinson Beach, China Beach, and Aquatic Park near Fisherman’s Wharf, with occasional patrols and emergency response to Ocean Beach. As a result of budgetary concerns, lifeguards for Aquatic Park, China Beach, and Ocean Beach were gradually removed in the early 1990s. However, the beach-going public continued to swim at Ocean Beach, and drownings continued to occur, despite the development of an aquatic response team by the San Francisco Fire Department, which accomplished a number of rescues. During the late spring and early summer of 1998, there were seven drownings at Ocean Beach, which exceeded the previous six-year total. These drownings generated extensive media attention and resulted in calls by several major groups and prominent individuals for lifeguard protection. GGNRA consulted with USLA to develop a plan to employ, train, and deploy aquatic rescue personnel at Ocean Beach. On-site lifeguard services began before the summer of 1999, and since that time, no drownings have occurred at Ocean Beach.

In 1918, 13 people drowned in rip currents in a single day at San Diego’s Ocean Beach, garnering local and national news attention. Beach attendance that day was estimated at 5,000. City officials cited inadequate lifeguard protection as a cause of the tragedy, and as a result, initiated a municipal lifeguard service. The ocean conditions have changed little since then. San Diego’s local leaders view the 17 miles of oceanfront shoreline, which include Ocean Beach, as a safely managed tourist attraction due to the presence of lifeguards. Despite an average estimated annual attendance of 15 million people and over 7,000 rescues at the major lifeguarded beaches, the average number of drownings in areas under lifeguard protection is between zero and one annually.